Plattsburgh business owner fears effects of Durkee redevelopment

Danielle Erb, pictured here speaking to the Plattsburgh Common Council, has been outspoken about the potential effects redevelopment of the Durkee Street lot could have on downtown Plattsburgh.

PLATTSBURGH | As the Plattsburgh Common Council preps a list of recommendations for overhauling the city’s parking system, some downtown workers and business owners are cautioning that a lack of parking availability caused by the redevelopment of the Durkee Street lot could be detrimental to downtown businesses.

Saverio Minardi, the owner of downtown staple Pizza Bono, is sounding the alarm.

For the City of Plattsburgh, parking has always been a problem, Minardi told Plattsburgh Common Council last Wednesday at a public hearing on the results of a recent parking study.

The proposed elimination of a portion of the lot’s 289 spaces, a project which garnered $4.3 million in state investment as part of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, would only make it worse, he said.

“We do need the parking spaces,” Minardi told The Sun. “You cannot take any away.”

IMPACT ON BUSINESS

For 28 years, Minardi has watched from behind the counter of his shop as customers, residents and employees alike circle the block in search of a parking space.

“I’m sure we do lose some business,” he said.

An Italian expat who moved to New York with his wife, who served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Plattsburgh, Minardi has lived in Plattsburgh since the late 1980s.

The city is currently in the process of hiring an economic development consultant that will be tasked with attracting a developer for the Durkee Street property, which is expected to be split into a park and multi-use building with riverfront access.

The Common Council doesn’t have the authority to shut down the Durkee Street redevelopment, Councilor Joshua Kretser (Ward 6) told residents last week and the state ultimately chose which projects would receive what amount of funding.

“The state made the decision,” he said.

Danielle Erb, a member of local advocacy group Strong Towns Plattsburgh, disagreed that the council didn’t have any power.

But the discussion of the Durkee Street development, which necessitated the study of parking availability and solutions to lack thereof in the downtown core, was repeatedly shut down by the council.

“This is not a question of whether or not Durkee will be developed,” Armstrong said at the meeting, though she conceded that “the jury is still out” on how public input factored into the decision to fund the project.

Councilors agreed to holding another meeting specifically about the future of the lot.

In the meantime, business owners like Minardi are left wondering what’s going to happen next and how it’s going to effect the businesses they’ve built.

“We don’t have parking spaces around here,” he said.

A BAD MONTH

Erb argued that some city business owners were struggling to survive as is.

According to Community Development Director Matthew Miller, the state wants to see movement on the Durkee Street project by the end of this summer — or fall at the latest.

The implementation of a new parking system, which may include paid parking, a ticketing agent or merged lots elsewhere, and the redevelopment of Durkee, will hopefully be executed in tandem, Miller said.

“What we’re struggling with is the timeline,” Erb said.

Minardi concurred with Erb.

“Absolutely I’m concerned with the timeline,” he said.

Between his pizza shop, and the apartments that he rents out, parking is vital.

He motioned out the window of Pizza Bono to Clinton Street, which that afternoon was lined with cars parked bumper-to-bumper.

“If nobody has a place to park, no one will want to rent these places.

“It’ll kill all of this. You understand what I’m saying?”

— This is the second in a series about the pending redevelopment of the Durkee Street lot. Read the first installment here.